⚠ NOT FOR NAVIGATION. Use official charts and tide tables. This page is a planning aid only. Navigate with the current official chart, Transport for NSW and Port Authority notices, official tide tables and local advice.

Wollongong Harbour & Port Kembla

Official Transport for NSW boating mapsTfNSW map 10A: Wollongong & Port Kembla (PDF)TfNSW map 10A insets: Wollongong Harbour & Port Kembla (PDF)TfNSW coastal map 10: Garie Beach to Crookhaven (PDF)Free official PDFs from Transport for NSW. Not for navigation: TfNSW says so on every sheet, and so do we.

Small boat harbour · Para Reef · ramp surge · Port Kembla shippingLast checked: 27 October 2026Report a correction

This is the southern end of the section. Wollongong Harbour is small, shallow and right in town, fine in good weather and no place to run for in bad. A few miles south, Port Kembla is a big commercial port with breakwaters, but most of it is off-limits to recreational boats. Know the rules for both before you need them.

Map of Wollongong Harbour and Port Kembla with markers for the harbour, its boat ramp, the Port Kembla Inner Harbour and Marine Rescue Port Kembla at Hill 60. — Wollongong and Port Kembla. Navy: harbour; green: ramp; red: Inner Harbour, no recreational boats; orange: Marine Rescue. Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL). Positions are approximate and for orientation only. **Not a chart. Not for navigation.**
1Wollongong Harbour · Nominatim.
2Wollongong Harbour boat ramp · OSM.
3Port Kembla Inner Harbour (no recreational boats) · Nominatim.
4Marine Rescue Port Kembla (Hill 60) · Nominatim.

At a glance


Wollongong Harbour	Small boat harbour; fairway 3.6 to 6.0 m, under 3 m at the docks (NGA)
Leads	196°, fixed blue lights (map 10A)
Hazard	Para Reef, about 0.3 mile north of the west breakwater (NGA)
Port Kembla	Commercial port; VHF 8, 11 and 16 for port traffic (NGA)
Rescue	Marine Rescue Port Kembla, Hill 60
Maps	TfNSW map 10A, its insets and coastal map 10

Wollongong Harbour

⚠ Call marine rescue before you cross. Bar conditions change quickly and our notes can't keep up. Before crossing, contact Marine Rescue Port Kembla (Hill 60, 24/7 radio) for current bar conditions, and log on before you cross and off once you're through.

Log on via VHF 16 or the Marine Rescue NSW app. Base phone (02) 4260 6300
Emergency: VHF 16 or Triple Zero (000)

Contacts checked on the unit's official website on 27 October 2026: portkembla.marinerescuensw.com.au/.

Getting in. NGA gives the fairway 3.6 to 6.0 m, with less than 3 m off the docks. It says the harbour is impossible to enter in bad weather.

Para Reef. NGA says Para Reef, about 0.3 mile north of the west breakwater, breaks. Map 10A shows leads on 196° (fixed blue lights) but warns not to use them more than 0.4 nm (750 m) from the harbour because of Para Reef.

Inside. Map 10A marks a 4-knot limit in the harbour and a mooring area. It says frequent strong surge affects the ramp and parking is limited.

Port Kembla

Restricted areas. Map 10A says recreational boats must not go within 50 m of jetties 3, 4 and 6, the Flammable Liquids Berth or any vessel berthed there, and must stay out of the Inner Harbour altogether.
Shelter. NGA says the outer harbour is sheltered except from north to north-north-west.
Anchoring. NGA says anchoring is prohibited in the approach. Port Kembla notice to mariners 1 of 2026 closes Anchorage 7.
Radio. NGA lists VHF 8, 11 and 16 for the port.
Boat harbour. Map 10A shows a boat harbour at Port Kembla.

Lifejackets on the bars

Map 10A says lifejackets are compulsory when crossing all the entrance bars shown on the map.

Up the coast: Wattamolla

NGA describes Wattamolla, north of here in Royal National Park, as a small boat harbour sheltered except from the south and east.

Ashore

What's within about a 15-minute walk (1.2 km) of each marina, ramp or landing on this page, measured along streets and footpaths in OpenStreetMap. Addresses are from OpenStreetMap where it has one; where it doesn't, we show the name and distance only. Listings as fetched from OpenStreetMap on 27 October 2026; check opening hours before you walk.

From Wollongong Harbour / Wollongong Harbour boat ramp (boat ramp / dinghy landing, marina)

Name	Type	Walk	Street address (OSM)
Bars, pubs and clubs
Pepe's On The Beach	Bar	1000 m	–
Restaurants and cafes
Yachties Cafe	Cafe	230 m	Endeavour Drive, Wollongong NSW 2500
Nonabel Cafe	Cafe	400 m	Wollongong NSW 2500
Harbourfront	Restaurant	430 m	Wollongong NSW 2500
Bombora Seafood Restaurant	Restaurant	460 m	Endeavour Drive, Wollongong NSW 2500
Levendi	Cafe	550 m	81 Cliff Road, Wollongong NSW 2500
Steamers Bar & Grill	Restaurant	590 m	Marine Drive
Longboard Cafe	Cafe	660 m	1 Marine Drive, Wollongong NSW 2500
The Anchorage	Restaurant	720 m	–
plus 15 more within the walk
Entertainment
The Old Court House	Museum	610 m	–
Ted Tobin OAM Observation Deck	Attraction	920 m	–
Illawarra Historical Society Inc & Illawarra Museum	Museum	1.0 km	–
Supermarkets and provisioning
Deli and Dine	Deli	1.1 km	22 Market Street

No marine stores or chandlers are mapped in OpenStreetMap within the walk.

Places, types, addresses and walking distances: © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL), fetched 27 October 2026.

About this page

These are free planning notes written by a working delivery skipper from public sources. They are not for navigation. Use the official chart, current Transport for NSW marine notices, Port Authority notices, official tide tables and local advice. Spotted something out of date? Please use Report a correction below.

Official links

Check these before you go. They beat anything on this page.

Sources & credits

Written in our own words from Transport for NSW boating map 10A and its Wollongong Harbour and Port Kembla insets (image-only maps, read as images), and coastal map 10 (each sheet read with pdftotext or viewed on 27 October 2026; each carries its own 'produced' or 'printed' date, quoted on the page), NGA Pub. 127 Sailing Directions (Enroute) East Coast of Australia and New Zealand (2025), Transport for NSW boating pages and marine notices, Port Authority of NSW notices, Marine Rescue NSW unit pages (checked 27 October 2026) and OpenStreetMap. NGA Pub. 127 Sector 4 (4.18, 4.19). Port Authority of NSW Port Kembla notice to mariners 1 of 2026 and the Marine Rescue Port Kembla unit page, read 27 October 2026.

Transport for NSW. Facts from the Transport for NSW boating maps (each sheet's 'produced' date is quoted where we rely on it), nsw.gov.au boating pages and TfNSW marine notices, restated and summarised in our own words. Maps are linked, not reproduced. The official maps, notices and the Marine Safety Regulation 2016 prevail. Not endorsed by Transport for NSW.

Port Authority of NSW. Local marine notices and recreational boating advice for Newcastle, Sydney Harbour, Botany Bay and Port Kembla, cited for fact only.

NGA. Background from NGA Pub. 127, Sailing Directions (Enroute) East Coast of Australia and New Zealand (2025), U.S. National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, a US Government work in the public domain. Parts of it are old; where a page leans on it, we say so. Not endorsed by NGA.

Marine Rescue NSW. Unit contacts and hours from each unit's own website, checked on the date shown in the rescue box.

Spotted something wrong or out of date? Port rules and surge conditions change; tell us what you found. Report a correction and tell us what you saw and when.
Last checked: 27 October 2026.

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